Neighbors welcome school

By LIBBY ROSOF

Despite bitter cold, the neighbors were out in force for the groundbreaking
for the new neighborhood school at 42nd and Spruce Streets March 1. The
preK-8 school is a cooperative effort of the University, the School District
of Philadelphia and the teachers union.

I think this schools going to be an incredible resource,
said neighbor Kate Stover, 44, with her children Lydia Wood, 6, Henry
Wood, 3, and husband Tim Wood.

About 30 children who were planning to enter the Penn-assisted school in September
sat patiently under a large party tent, their parents hovering, waiting
for the ceremony to begin. Cuong Pham, whose 4 1/2-year-old was among
those waiting, was upbeat about having the school in the neighborhood.
I think it will be great, he said. We need something.

Then the dignitaries, starting with Vice President Steve Schutt, thanked
the School District, the neighbors, the committees, the politicians, the
University.

This is Philadelphia at its best, said President Judith Rodin.
City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, said, Schools are always good
things. And School Board President Pedro Ramos (C87) pointed
to the help Penn was also giving to Carver High School, a science magnet
school moving onto land in the University City Science Center.

Mayor Street spoke after the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers
Ted Kirsch, School District Interim Chief Executive Officer Phil Goldsmith,
Graduate School of Education Dean Susan Fuhrman, and West Philadelphia
Cluster Leader Janice Butler, and after State Rep. James Roebuck spoke
of the new schools role in making all the schools in West Philadelphia
better.

Then, with a backhoe and a bulldozer as a backdrop, the dignitaries with
white hard hats and silver spades, and the patient children with yellow
hard hats and bright plastic spades, broke ground together in the ceremonial
sandbox, planting franklinia seeds and marigold seeds, symbols of growth
and the future. The dignitaries dug briefly, then beamed at the digging
children.

A few windblown picket signs opposing the school were overwhelmed by the
community celebration. Neighbor Nancy Cox, 70, said, Its probably
going to be the best school for miles and miles.

After the talking and the digging came the party hot cocoa, animal
crackers, apples, carrot and celery sticks, and goldfish, plus baby wipes
to clean off the dirt.

Penn Current Express

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